Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said that a PN administration had achieved a total of two and the half billion euros from the EU and for the Prime Minister to compare the funds that will be generated from the citizenship programme to the amount of money the PN obtained from the EU is 'an insult'.

Dr Busuttil was referring to the 1.2 billion euros obtained by former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi for the 2014-2020 period which add up to the previous funds the Nationalist government had obtained for Malta for the years 2004-2013.

Speaking during a political activity held in Xaghra, Gozo this morning, Dr Busuttil said these funds obtained by previous PN government cannot be compared to the money that will be generated with the selling of passports. 

He said that the PN’s position will remain against the concept of selling citizenship and it will continue to oppose the programme.

“We will not fear continuing to oppose the citizenship sale,” Dr Busuttil said.

MEP candidate Kevin Cutajar said Maltese citizenship is precious for the PN and the party disagreed fully with the sale of Maltese passports.

He said that Malta’s reputation would be tarnished when the European Parliament meets to take a vote on the Maltese citizenship programme later this week.

The European Parliament is to debate Malta’s controversial citizenship scheme on Wednesday and take a vote the day after.

The request for a debate, being named ‘EU citizenship for sale’, had been proposed by many political groups. MEPs, the Council and the Commission are expected to take part.

If the EP votes against the citizenship programme, it cannot bar the Maltese government from going ahead with the programme.

PN deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Mario de Marco started his address by repeating two PN slogans of the past, a much older version, Xoghol, Guztizzja, u Liberta (Work, Justice and Freedom) and the more recent Xoghol, Sahha, Edukazzjoni (Work, Health and Education).

“The PN always believed that the best way to evaluate whether a government is performing or not is if jobs are being created,” he said.

Both the slogans included ‘work’ as the party’s top priority.

Dr de Marco said that hardly any jobs were being created in the months since Labour was elected to govern.

“The number of persons registering for work each month during the last few months was increasing by 500 individuals than the previous month,” Dr de Marco said.

“We are very concerned for these unemployed persons: this country cannot simply bank on those individuals who are employed, we need to encourage more persons to go out and work,” he said.

“Ironically,” Dr De Marco said, the only sector which is seeing an increase in employment is the public sector where the sector witnessed more than 1,200 individuals employed.

Turning to Gozo, he asked what Labour’s economic plan for Gozo was, questioning whether the government was intending offering free ferry crossings, as it did recently, once a year as a way to create economic activity in Gozo.

On retail trade, quoting Eurosat statistics, Dr de Marco said that Malta and Romania were the only countries that witnessed a decrease in retail trade.

“For the government nothing is an issue and if one spoke out, he or she would be branded as negative,” he lamented.

Dr de Marco said that two economists, Lino Briguglio and Gordon Cordina, were quoted in the media today urging the government to create jobs.

PN MP Francis Zammit Dimech, who recently announced his MEP candidature, recalled a phrase he used to define Labour during election time: “Never like last March, have I ever seen the Labour Party prepared for an election campaign, but also never had I seen the Labour Party so unprepared to govern.”

The Labour Party never seriously believed in the European Union and was now acting in an opportunistic way, he said.

He said that the migrant push backs saga and the citizenship sale were embarrassing situations for the country.

Dr Zammit Dimech said that the PN deserves a third seat in the European Parliament because it “genuinely believes in the EU”.

Worthy of note is that an expert in electoral systems, Hermann Schiavone, told the Malta Independent on Sunday today that Labour are aware they have no chance of the fourth MEP seat.

Ray Bugeja, another candidate named by the PN a few days ago to contest this year’s European Parliament elections, said that Malta needs to be part of a strong union and not part of a Caribbean island, referring to Grenada which revived its citizenship selling programme last year.

Mr Bugeja said that the voice of a PN MEP candidate is stronger in the European Parliament since it is associated with a strong voice in parliament.  

In his opening remarks, MEP candidate Norman Vella thanked the PN for its support, referring to his illegal arrest late last year and which saw the PN support him to the full throughout his saga.

“The government does not have a licence to censure us and gag us; this is a government that tries to do so,” Mr Vella said, referring to a statement he posted on his Facebook page, which read ‘Courage’, shortly after he was named by the PN as an MEP candidate.

Turning to the tent-like structure erected at Mater Dei, he said that instead of tackling the out-of-stock medicines, the government decided to put up a tent to deal with problems.

The Health Ministry on Friday placed a tent-like structure outside the day care unit reception area at Mater Dei, for the tent would be used as a reception and the indoor reception as a treatment room. But it didn’t last long, as soon after, the prime minister ordered the ministry to remove the tent after the government was dubbed as insensitive by the PN and following the MUMN’s issuing of directives to nurses.

The prime minister claimed that he had not been aware over the fact that the ministry had decided to put up a tent until later in the day. The OPM also emerged saying that the intentions were good but the move was wrong.

Towards the end of Sunday’s activity, Dr Busuttil said that the government is showing that it is not capable of governing: “To generate revenue, it’s selling the passports; to deal with the influx of patients at Mater Dei, it put up a tent,” he said.

“How is that for dealing with situations, some rocket science isn’t it,” he sarcastically said.

On Arriva, Dr Busuttil described the government's forcing out of Arriva as a "vendetta" saying that from the beginning the demise of Arriva was on the PL's cards.

Dr Busuttil claimed that the negotiations with Arriva were a “failure” and said that the Opposition is demanding that the government issues, in a transparent manner, what conditions which will be set related to the call or expressions of interest to be issued soon for a new bus operator.